A Necessary Struggle: Fall Semester

Part 45

After the front door slammed, Lela couldn't help but laugh at Trevor's widened eyes, flared cheeks and twisted mouth. It had been a week since she told him the truth and he walked out on her. He took a day of what he called processing and moved on. Now, they were back on track and she was feeling something she had never felt for another human that wasn't her parents. Could this be love? She asked herself that question every time she caught him staring at her, fell asleep in his arms, or reached for his hand while he drove.

"Awkward," Trevor whispered. "I thought they made up already."

Lela slipped her hand in the flour speckled oven mitt,  "She made up with her Bio-Dad, not her mama." She pulled out a pan of golden brown cupcakes. Vanilla, chocolate, and cinnamon floated through the atmosphere as a gentle breeze blew through the open patio doors.

"Oh!" Trevor went back to popping the tops off the beer bottles. "Is this going to mess up our Thanksgiving plans? 'Cause I don't want to be with my family." He opened the last beer and took a swig of it.

"Don't get that mixed up with the other bottles." She stabbed a toothpick into one of the cupcakes. He gave her a thumb's up as he continued drinking. "Everything's going to work itself out." She smiled pulling the toothpick out. "Clean! They're done." She wiped away the mist of sweat from her forehead leaving a trail of flour.

Laughter boomed from the other side of the kitchen.

Lela smiled turning to the little boy with auburn hair and silver eyes. "Something funny, CJ?" She transported the cupcakes from the pan to the cooling rack.

"Yeah!" CJ decked out in a pinstriped button down and khakis. The tousled headed ten-year-old hoped on the barstool. "You have cake on your face." He smiled wider showing his light blue rubber banded braces.

Trevor choked out a laugh then swallowed. "Flour's on your forehead, Frosty." He used the collar of his pink Ralph Lauren shirt to wipe the droplets of beer from his lip.

CJ laughed a little louder, "Can I have one?" He reached for one of the lager filled baby bottles.

"No!" Lela shouted almost dropping one of the cupcakes in the sink as she reached across the island to slap CJ's hand away from the baby bottle. "Here!" She stuffed the warm cupcake in his empty hand. "And go watch cartoons." She fanned him away.

"Ha!" Trevor twisted a pink nipple-top on the baby bottle. "Babysitter, almost let the child get wasted."

"It's your fault." She tossed a handful of sprinkles at Trevor. "Who has alcohol at a baby shower?"

Trevor shook the pink and white tiny pieces out of his long lustrous golden locks, "People who don't want to be at a baby shower." He groaned like a spoiled toddler. "No one's here yet!" He raced around the island, pulled her hand off the spatula and cleaved her to his body. "We could leave." She tsked pushing away from him. "Hear me out." He pleaded, holding tightly on her waist causing her sweater dress to hike up in the back.

Trevor opened his mouth and she placed her finger against his tantalizing lips. "I know. There are millions of places you'd rather be than here." She licked her plump lips drawing his cobalt eyes on them. Her hands rake up his arms leaving a path of heated desire. He pulled her closer to his body. "But I'll make it worth your wild." She winked.

He leaned his mouth to her ear. His warm breath tickled her skin prompted her to clasp her thighs tightly together. "There's a child in the room," He whispered. Lela looked at CJ watching Arrow with his back to them. Trevor's taut lips grazed her neck. "You owe me."

A debt her body was willing to pay. Lela pushed Trevor away from her before she took him into the pantry. "It'll be over in two hours. Believe me." She breathed out. "And Aunt Sylvan should be home in twenty minutes." Lela pulled her dress back down.

"How is this going to work?" Trevor asked leaning against the island. "Are you going to tell Fiya that the Russell's are your surrogate family?" He peeled the silver paper away from the icing-free cupcake.

Lela stopped dropping food coloring into the buttercream frosting. The thought had crossed her mind. She hoped they would be two ships in the night, never to meet. Better yet, never to know each other exist. To the extent of Lela's knowledge, Safiya had cut Carter out of her life and the baby's. Sylvan and the boys were still clueless to Carter's miss deeds. Everything in the Russell household was middle-class American normal and Lela was going to make sure it stayed that way.

"I love Fiya and I'm going to help her raise her baby girl. I also love every last one of The Russell's down to CJ's freaky little terrier." Lela delicately whipped the pink liquid into the buttercream slowly morphing the sweet, decadent opaque frosting into a rosy hue. "So, I'm staying out of it."

"I hope that works out for ya!" Trevor mumbled with a mouthful of cake. He slapped her on the back and then settled on the couch next to CJ sipping on a beer-filled baby bottle.

Will Lela be able to stay out of Safiya's baby Drama?

Hope you like the song for this chapter, I had a hard time picking one.